Last October, the Portuguese Parliament approved by majority vote several amendments to the Portuguese Nationality Law, which were ratified by the Presidency of the Republic at the beginning of November. In addition to the changes made to the law, the Portuguese government has set itself a deadline of 90 days to specify the objective requirements to be met in order to prove the effective connection with the Portuguese community in the naturalisation processes of the descendants of the Sephardic Jews.

This is the second attempt to reform the nationality law after the one approved last July by the Portuguese Assembly when other amendments to the law were approved, including those concerning Portuguese grandchildren and citizens married to Portuguese citizens. However, at that time, the rule was returned by the President of the Republic to the Assembly, to review some aspects related to nationality by marriage and de facto unions. Finally, the reform was approved.
The main changes made to the nationality law are as follows:

- Grandchildren of Portuguese citizens will not need to prove an effective link with the Portuguese community in nationality proceedings, unless they can prove sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language.
- Children of foreign nationals born in Portugal will be entitled to Portuguese nationality, provided that at least one of the parents is legally resident in Portugal or can prove that he or she has been resident in Portugal for at least one year, regardless of the title to be held.
- The minimum requirement of three years of marriage or common-law residence to obtain Portuguese nationality is maintained for Portuguese spouses or partners. If the marriage or common-law relationship has lasted more than six years, it is understood that there is an effective link with the Portuguese community, without this test being contested.

The amendment to the nationality law entered into force the day after its publication, but rules may be developed concerning the various procedures arising from it and concerning its application. 

With regard to the naturalisation processes for Sephardics, in force since 2015, there is great expectation about the content of the reforms being considered. This time there is a great deal of secrecy on the part of the government about these reforms, to avoid a possible social response to them, as was the case after the last attempt to modify the Decree-Law for Sephardics, which in fact led to its withdrawal. We will therefore have to be very attentive to these developments, which will be made known in a few weeks.

Alejandro de Vicente de Rojas. Lawyer

Larrauri & Martí Lawyers

Portuguese nationality for Sephardic Jews